ESXi server build lots of SQL

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Good Day,I was chosen to help spec out a new server for a dev shop with lots of SQL Work. The server will not be from Dell,HP or Lenovo due to the high costs. I want to spec out and build my own server based on Supermicro barebone or anything else suggested. I like the Supermicro because it provides a new starting point. My max bugdet is 10k. Can anyone help me advice, on the CPU, RAM choice. My most difficult part is choosing the storage. Seems that SSDs are still pricy, 10k 2.5 sas drives 15k sas drives. Need some help here. Also what raid card to choose.

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You may not need flash but if the load is relatively low, you can still benefit from even the TLC drives that are low cost, good capacity and you won't have to worry a ton about endurance. You might also consider setting up two tiers, flash and disk, so in the event something more priority comes up, you could move the volume over...or do caching with flash/disk and software.

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You may not need flash but if the load is relatively low, you can still benefit from even the TLC drives that are low cost, good capacity and you won't have to worry a ton about endurance. You might also consider setting up two tiers, flash and disk, so in the event something more priority comes up, you could move the volume over...or do caching with flash/disk and software.

What solution would you recommend for this? I mean what raid card for caching that works with ESXi, and what SSDs?

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The LSI 3108 built into that server is the LSI 9261-8i RAID card... so a very, very card. Nothing on the market beats it. Currently caching at the RAID card level doesn't really yield optimal results. You'd be better of managing it yourself in terms of migrating intensive VMs onto flash and the slower guys onto HDD only. Caching software could help you out, but the costs per CPU would easily push you outside of this budget.

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What is your budget for the server total? I just started to look at the Dell pricing, and for Dell R730 w/ 16 2.5" bays and the same grade HW RAID card and CPUs I'm at the identical price as the Supermicro.

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Max Budget would be $7k, looks like right now. Please keep in mind in Canada we get much higher prices then your USA Dell. The Supermicro I speced out there was an CDN Dollars meaning (2k CAD around $1500 uSD Dollars.